Agatha Christie

I typically don't write reviews on Amazon, but, this book is such a let down that I wanted to put it down to help other readers. I tried my best to stick with it, but the desultory style and random insertion of meaningless diversions made it impossible to proceed. It is really a shame as I thought this would be a definitive biography of one of my favorite authors, but, alas, it turned out to be total waste of time and money!

I will gladly reread some of Agatha Christie's novel But this volume, which I picked up hoping to discover how shepicked and fashioned her plot, does not touch on the topic, though it often informs us that such or such a personis the basis of a character. Since Agatha was prolific, there are many stories I have not read.The chapters about her disappearance are masterful! Only an accomplished writer could make those dauys so vivid for us, so filled with emotion, landscape and drama. Those are the best part of this thick book, illustrated with photosof Agatha at various stages of her life, including some which no one would find flattering.In conclusion, a well, perhaps overly well researched book about the famous Agatha Christie, her outer and inner world and some of her inner world.

Agatha Christie (`1890-1976) is the bestselling author of all time! While her detective novels and Mary Westamacott books (a pen name she used)profound or great literature they are fun to read and exercise those little cells as you seek to solve the murder! Christie wrote over 50 detective novels and created two of crime fiction's enduring characters in Hercule Poirot (the retired Belgian detective) and Miss Marple who lives in St. Mary Mead an English village. Christie also wrote autobiographical works and many plays including The Mousetrap (the longest running play in theatre history!). She was born Agatha Miller in Devon, Her father Frederick was a wealthy American whlle her Irish mother was the person she loved most in her long life (1890-1976) Agatha had little formal education and served as a VAD in World War I where she acquired her knowledge of poisons by working in a dispensary. She wed handsome Archie Christie a flyer in 1914. The couple produced her only child a daughter named Rosalind named for the Shakespearean heroine in As You Like It. Mother and daughter had a rocky relationship. In 1926 Agatha traveled to Yorkshire to escape the pressures of motherhood, literary labor, the death of her mother and most importantly her divorce from Archie (he was an adulterer). She contemplated suicide abandoning her car in a remote location. The event led to intense media scrutiny and a huge search was launched. She claimed amnesia but this was merely a smokescreen for her depression. In 1930 she married Oxford graduate Max Mallowan twelve years her junior. He was an archaeologist and she often went to the Middle East in Babylon, Egypt and elsewhere where Max conducted digs. She loved to travel, garden, attend theatres, walk and enjoy life in her many homes and her gem of an estate in Devon called Greenways. Her many books include The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Murder at the Vicarage, The Holows, Sleeping Murder, Curtain, Sleeping Cypress, Murder on the Orient Express and many other novels and short stories. She was a Dame of the British Empire. Agatha Christie was an upper crust woman who held many prejudices of her class and her writing is often pedestrian but she understood human nature and her works are worth reading. Laura Thompson a London based biographer first caught my attention when I read her biographical work on the six Mitford sisters. This is a book for all Agatha Christie fans and anyone interested in a good literary biography.

So much we never knew about Christie, and I, for one, am ecstatic to learn about her. Read many of her books while traveling across country with my parents in our station wagon, days, days, days at a time, with little else to do but stare at corn fields, get hot and tired. And read Agatha Christie.

Really disappointed. This book is so boring. I rarely stop reading a book, but I just could not continue with this one. NOt worth it even if it was free.

I love Agatha Christie. One of her many books- better than others. Gives insights on how she wrote her stories.

Excellent!!!

Lots and lots and lots of detail

Sono ancora ai primi capitoli ma posso dire che è come speravo fosse: uno sguardo alla vita dell’autrice con un’introspezione psicologica che coinvolge non solo la Christie ma anche ogni persona che è stata importante nella sua vita. Il gradino successivo, insomma, dopo aver letto l’autobiografia. In lingua inglese.

Es una biografía muy completa, quizá demasiado extensa, ya que cuenta no sólo los hechos, sino también lo que Agatha Christie sentía íntimamente, lo cual es difícil de comprobar.